Welcome to the Daily Chizuk (encouragement). The Rama is a Posek (halachic decisor) in Siman Taf Resh Zayin (section 607): Yom Kippur only atones for people who believe in its power to atone. We have to have Emunah (faith) that Teshuvah (repentance) erases the sin as if you never did it. The Pasuk (verse) says, “When a man repents, Kol chatotav asher chata lo tizakarnah.” All of his sins will never be remembered. Another Pasuk says, “Anokhi anokhi hu moheh pesha'echa lema'ani.” Hashem cleanses us for His sake, so that we can become closer to Him. The Rambam describes how beautiful the Baal Teshuvah (one who repents) appears before Hashem. There's no mitzvah (commandment) to walk around depressed all the time over your mistakes. Once you made Teshuvah, it's totally forgotten about.
Rabbi Boruch Ber Leibowitz, a great Gaon (great Torah scholar) from the previous generation, excelled in the mitzvah of Kibbud Av Va'em (honoring father and mother). He even named his great Sefer after his father. When his father became ill, the rabbi refused to leave his bedside. He canceled all of his classes in the yeshiva and was there around the clock. But the students were concerned for their rabbi's well-being. After much pressure and pleading, they convinced the rabbi to go home and get some rest, while the students attended to his father's needs. But during one of the breaks, the rabbi's father passed away. The rabbi blamed himself for not being with his father. He felt that he didn't do as much as he could for his father. For weeks afterward, he was out of it, feeling guilty. At that time, the Chafetz Chaim was passing through the town, and the students asked him to come talk to their rabbi. After the meeting, the rabbi was a new man.
The students asked the rabbi, “What did the Chafetz Chaim say?” The rabbi said, “He asked me, ‘Even if you're right that you didn't fulfill the mitzvah of Kibbud Av Va'em properly, did you make Teshuvah?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ Then the Chafetz Chaim said, ‘If you made Teshuvah, the sin is totally erased. It's like it never happened. So why are you still thinking about it?’” Teshuvah gives us a new beginning. Stop living in the past. Start fresh. And if a person is able to do Teshuvah out of love, then the Gemara says it's so powerful that the sins turn into mitzvot.
How do we make Teshuvah out of love? One of our listeners called me a few weeks ago with a question. He was sending an email to a customer that might have had some untruths in it. He wanted to know how to fix it, and what exactly is allowed and what's not allowed. But then he said, “I want to let you know, if this had happened three months ago, I wouldn't have thought twice about it. But over the past few months, I've been reflecting on how good Hashem is to me, how many blessings I have in my life, how Hashem is so kind, and how all the time He's just trying to help me. And now here I am doing something that He doesn't want me to do. He's the one giving me my parnassah (livelihood). He's the one giving me my parnassah. He's the one giving me my parnassah. I see it so clearly. So why am I doing something forbidden like this?”
This is an example of Teshuvah me'ahavah, Teshuvah out of love. He's not scared of being punished. He wants to change his ways just because he became so close to Hashem. He recognizes how much Hashem does for him, so he wants to improve. This type of Teshuvah is in our grasp. May we all be zocheh (merit) to make such a Teshuvah. May Hashem find favor with our repentance. May we all be kind to Hashem. May we all be cleansed by this awesome day and use it to become closer to Hashem. And may we be zocheh to a Gemar Chatimah Tovah. Amen (so be it).